A Beginner’s Guide To Dance

I am no expert on dance music and only listen to a few artists mainly recommended to me by friends and reviews. I generally listen to relaxed styles mainly with real instruments involved; there have been plenty of artists developing styles incorporating a dance influence in differing styles.

The most documented style recently discussed has been the New Rave scene which started in the USA with the LCD Sound System and The Rapture both influencing the style that emerged in the UK last year with The Klaxons, Hot Chip and Enter Shakiri. The scene has obvious comparisons to the Radio 4 and Cooper Temple Clause but Test Icicles have been credited with starting the style. Recently NME described them as 'the most important influence to music in the last 10 years' (a comment to take with a pinch of salt).

As with any scene there are good artists and bands who ride the hype. The Klaxons were victims of their own success and released a great album but singles being forced into our ears made it hard to respect the creativity of the record. Hot Chip also got tied into the New Rave scene, although released one of the best dance albums of the year with a follow up that made my top albums of the year.

Although I am not an expert there are plenty of ‘dance’ albums I love including Air’s Moon Safari which is an album that never fails to relax me but includes all the elements you expect from French dance music. New Forms by Roni Size and Reprazent is again a stunning record, made with a mixture between live instruments and electronic beats creating an individual sound. Mr Scruff’s Keep It Unreal displays a truly original take jazz inspired dance which is hard not to love.

The genre is far bigger than my knowledge but there are a load of important bands to be considered.

LCD Soundsystem

Radio 4

Mr Scruff

Roni Size

Air

Klaxons

Bloc Party (Particularly most recent record)

Hot Chip

Test Icicles